Wednesday, February 29, 2012

How will you learn with your family during March Break 2012? Shhh... Here's a little secret we're letting you in on - we get guests who attend a foodie or ghost walk at other times of the year, and then return with their whole family for March Break or any other holidays. By "whole family", I'm referring to their own parents plus their children, all in tow, for good old-fashioned quality tri-generational time-out filled with equal portion of food, food for thought, fun and a wee bit of physical activity called gentle walking that meets Dr. Oz's approval.

Here's something to mull over: learning happens in everything we do. If you decide to stay home half of March Break Week, learning still happens in everything we do. Yup. Whether you team up to sort laundry, draft a grocery list, or discover a new route to grandma, you are learning together. You could also learn with your family on interactive, theme walking tours... Imagine the fun and challenge in learning Dim Sum chopsticks and tea pouring etiquette for grandparents and the kids along one of our Second Chinatown Foodie Walks; learning to read a Toronto map circa 1842 on the hunt for clues that would lead us to sites connected with Charles Dickens along In The Footsteps of Charles Dickens: Toronto 1842 Walk; discover how to research a haunted site for one of the four ghost walks. Learning together, whether it's tri-generational or bi-generational, is a memorable, experiential and fun journey for all. Don't forget to bring along your digital cameras (and spare batteries!). Have a glance at which repertoire of walks will tickle your family's fancy...

Tick-tock-tick-tock... Tuesday February 7th, 2012 is fast-approaching... the literary world is in a tizzy as it will be Charles John Huffam Dickens' bicentenary birthday! Imagine the amount of excitement in 1841 when the British author, Charles Dickens announced that he will tour most of the major cities of United States and Canada in 1842. The news traveled sans help from social media marketing like Facebook, Twitter, or e-mails. One of my favourite musings along the theme walks involves an old childhood TV show. What if we could jump into Doctor Who's Time Machine, go back in time to 1842, to accompany Dickens on his visit of the four Canadian cities recorded in his travel book, American Notes - Halifax, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Kingston and Montreal! In my prior post, Charles Dickens lands on Canadian Soil First, I mentioned how Halifax, Nova Scotia had the honour of being the real beginning of his North American tour on January 20th, 1842, and not Boston as many academics allude to. The Nova Scotia Archives have been posting the province's historical connections one tweet on Twitter. Would Charles Dickens be amused or bemused with England being so abuzz with his bicenten- ary birthday. If you happen to be in London, you can pay homage to Charles Dickens at the Museum of London's special Dickens and London exhibit which explores the author links to the English capital (now until June 10th, 2012). You could also drop into the Charles Dickens Museum which holds the world's most important Dickens collections. If you feel inclined to walk in his footsteps on a Friday afternoon, there's the Charles Dickens' London walking tour with one of the best and oldest company,Original London Walks. If you venture to Portsmouth, his birthplace, you'll find there's even the Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum. What about Toronto? Well, this Literary Detective and guide is excited about sharing one of Toronto's best kept secrets as in 2012 while participating in not one, but two celebrations! First we're going to celebrate on Saturday February 4th, in advance of the actual date for his 200th birthday 2012. I will personally conduct the In the Footsteps of Charles Dickens: Toronto 1842 Walk. I will read excerpts from my auto- graphed copy of his book, American Notes. This rare copy I bought from an antiquarian shop in Ottawa (none to be found in Toronto), has been autographed by his great-great grandson, Gerald Charles Dickens when he came to perform A Christmas Carol in Toronto in 2000. By the way, 2000 was the auspicious year when I launched this fabulous Literary Detective walk! The second celebration will be the 170th anniversary of his Toronto visit that took place May 4-6th 1842. For the first time in 12 years, I will run a tour about the time he arrived! (see Schedule below) Here's food for thoughts - we will have some juicy discussions about the real purpose or reasons behind his visit to Toronto. Charles Dickens told no one - except his publishers Chapman & Hall - the real purpose behind his 6-month visit to North America in 1842 from Portsmouth, England on the Britannia accompanied by his wife, Catharine, her maid Anne Brown, and his secretary, George Washington Putnam (read his account of the 1842 American visit: Four Months with Charles Dickens, an article he wrote for Atlantic Monthly in October 1870, shortly after Dickens' death). You can find out the real reasons when you attend one of our In the Footsteps of Charles Dickens: Toronto 1842 Walks...